


Solace

by the_flame_and_hawks_eye



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Angst, Drama, Episodes 58/59, F/M, Graphic Description
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 13:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_flame_and_hawks_eye/pseuds/the_flame_and_hawks_eye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riza and Roy have known each other for a long time. So when her life hangs in the balance, Riza finds that she must test just how strong their bond really is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solace

**Author's Note:**

> Since we, in some respect, saw what occurred in the tunnels beneath Central on the Promised Day through Roy's eyes, I wanted to try my take on Riza's thoughts and feelings as she watches Roy contemplate performing human transmutation to save her life.

The cruel, sharp sensation of the blade sliding effortlessly across Riza’s throat seemed as though it had been part of a nightmare. It was too surreal. But as her body began to fall, she willed her eyes to find the Colonel’s for a moment… And saw the grief-stricken realization painted across his features.

And just seeing that - _seeing him_ \- she knew.

The small sensation of pain now solidifying its realness, Riza’s eyes rolled back in her head and she hit the ground with a dull thud.

And her world became dark.

…

_“Lieutenant…! LIEUTENANT!”_

The voice seemed so distant. So disconnected. But there was no mistaking it. _Colonel…?_

Looking up through botches of darkness that dotted her vision, Riza slowly grasped at her fleeting consciousness and forced herself to look at her superior officer. She could hear the desperation in his voice, see the distress illustrated on his face.

A second muted voice reached her ears and his, as he turned away and viciously screamed toward it.

She could barely make out his words, but could not speak to try and oppose his duress. Feeling something grab her arm and begin to pull, Riza made no move to fight it and instead relented, allowing herself to be dragged across the rough and uneven stone floor like a ragdoll. When it stopped moments later, it carelessly tossed her back onto the ground and in the center of the transmutation circle etched onto the floor. A grandiose presentation, it seemed. Like a sacrificial lamb left at the altar…

_“Lieutenant… Are you still with me…? Answer me!”_

Reaching up, she stuck her fingers into the wound on her neck, finding and occluding the torn vessel in an attempt to stanch the seemingly endless amount of blood it was producing.

Yes, she was still with him… She was always with him…

“Ah, I understand. Would you like to transmute her after she has died,” the gold-toothed doctor mused excitedly beside her. “That would be acceptable.”

No… That would not happen.

Feeling her voice catch, Riza seized the opportunity and whispered, “I’m not… gonna die.” Aware that the doctor had turned his attention back toward her, she found and locked her eyes with his and wheezed, “What you don’t know is… That I’m under strict orders not to die…”

The gold-tooth doctor sneered. “If it were that easy to obtain an immortal body, my dear, it wouldn’t be very sporting, now would it?” Turning his attention away from Riza, she heard him address Roy, his voice booming and confident. “So tell me, Mustang. What will it be? Your precious woman is about to die. –“

Looking back at the blurred form she knew to be Roy, Riza desperately tried to focus on him, to see his face and reassure him that his orders weren’t for naught.

“–If you don’t act, she’ll bleed to death. All that blood right before your eyes–”

Seeing something move in the periphery of her vision, Riza tore her eyes away from the Colonel to look up and into the rafters above. The thing in question: a globular, shapely thing, raised a finger to its split lips and nodded its head.

An ally? She couldn’t be sure. But if it hadn’t made its appearance known by then, it must have at least favored them…

Relief flooded and pooled within her body, momentarily warming her and easing the uncertainty she had begun to feel. No matter what, he would not perform the transmutation. _That_ she was now certain of.

Feeling the doctor’s eyes on her, she heard him say, “She looks so quiet and still. Perhaps she is dead already—“

“–Colonel, please,” she breathed in retaliation, no longer able to stand the doctor’s rhetoric. Leering at the black and blue blotch that she had centered in her field of vision, she continued, “You don’t have to do this… Don’t sacrifice everything… for my sake.”

“But you will do it, won’t you, Mustang,” the doctor countered.

When Roy did not immediately reply, Riza’s heart sprang up and caught in her throat. He was considering it… He was _actually_ considering the transmutation. Pushing through the handicap that was her increasingly blurring vision, Riza forced herself to focus on the two pinprick splashes of black on the Colonel’s pallor face. And when she saw them move to and catch hers, she eased hers up to look back into the rafters, and prayed that he would understand.

Help was there… He just needed to hold on.

She heard him gasp, and she knew that he had understood. But when she looked back at him, she could vaguely see the dejection and hurt spread across his face. The despondency that rolled off of him was palpable.

It would be okay, she silently assured him. All of them… They would all be okay.

The Colonel, now trembling, bowed his head and whispered, “Alright…”

“Good! I knew you’d see reason,” the doctor chortled gleefully from Riza’s side, and for a moment she did not breathe. Perhaps he hadn’t understood her signal? Or maybe he knew but chose to forgo all reason in order to save her.

As her muddled mind began to race, she heard him utter, “Alright, Lieutenant. I _won’t_ perform the transmutation!”

If she had had the strength, Riza would have laughed. But instead she closed her eyes and tightened her blood-soaked hand around her throat, listening as the disgruntled doctor and the Colonel argued back and forth; the former, unbeknownst to him, buying time for their cause.

“And that,” the Colonel concluded confidently, “Is just the sort of overconfidence that could get you in trouble.”

“What do you—“ The doctor cut himself off by his own convoluted scream, and Riza knew that their ally from above had turned the tables on him. As she heard listened to his cries, she couldn’t help but think that his fate was justly deserved.

“No! Listen to me,” the gold-tooth doctor screeched as he begged for his life. “I’m the only one here that can use medical alchemy! If you don’t let me down, you can never save the woman! Don’t you understand?!”

That wouldn’t stop her from trying to live, Riza thought as she relaxed her body. But even if it didn’t happen, she had done all she had needed to… The Colonel was safe. And that, to her, was the primary objective…

Exhaling quietly, she allowed a faint smile to touch her lips as the myriad of noises that ensued began to dim.

…

After floating in a sea of darkness for what seemed like hours, Riza felt herself being slowly lifted away from the pavement and idly wondered if she hadn’t had the strength to remain bound there like she had promised. Still, the thought comforted her. Her body had held out for as long as she had needed.

_“Lieutenant… Come on… Stay with me…!”_

Stay…? That must be the Colonel. He had gotten away… They had won.

She wanted to tell him. Tell him that she would try. But the black expanse seemed so deep and the chasm between them so wide… The feat felt impossible…

But she would try…

_“Lieutenant, open your eyes! Lieutenant…”_

She would try…

“Lieutenant! Lieutenant! _Don’t you dare die_. Stay with me, Lieutenant!”

She would try…

But just as she contemplated trying to comply, she sensed herself being lowered down, and a beat later felt herself being momentarily submersed in a pool of mild, delicate warmth. And when it began to subside, she felt the sensation slowly begin to return to her limbs, her bated breaths becoming more voluminous and full, as if her body realized it was no longer in danger of dying.

The next thing she registered was her body being jostled and quickly lifted and pulled into a tight embrace.

Rolling her head to the side, Riza willed her eyes open and glanced up into a familiar set of obsidian eyes, and immediately felt a minute sense of relief radiate within her. But despite those eyes reflecting his solace, Riza still couldn’t let the chance pass her by. Because regardless, she had been the object of his concerns just minutes before. And because of that she had caused him so much warrantless worry. At last finding her voice, she uttered, “Colonel… I’m so sorry.”

He seemed utterly shocked by her revelation. “No,” he muttered in an attempt to ease _her_ concerns. “Don’t speak. Just rest for now.”

The corners of her lips turned upward. The Colonel… Roy… Always the one to diffuse a person’s doubts in order to cast away their guilt. And though she may never completely forgive herself for becoming an object that was used against him, she was at least grateful that he had understood her and prevented himself from going down that path. “You understood my signal,” she murmured. “I’m not sure how, but you did…”

His face softened and he allowed himself to project her a small smile. “We’ve been together long enough,” he replied gently. “And besides, I know that glare. It means: ‘Use human transmutation, and I’ll shoot you.’”

That’s right… They _had_ been together a long time. More time than she sometimes realized. And at least for now they were again, reunited briefly in the eye of the storm they had been battling.

Closing her eyes and nestling into his chest, she allowed herself to momentarily embrace that calm.

His warmth. 

Their solace.


End file.
